Sukkah 049

נושא: Sukkah

BET MIDRASH VIRTUALI

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Today's shiur is dedicated by Avraham Hasson
to the memory of his father, Yosef Hasson,
Yosef ben-Miriam ve-Natan z"l,

whose Yahrzeit was on 10th Nisan.

If one day intervenes the contingent which was serving its prescribed time would take ten loaves and [the contingent] that was dallying would take two. During the rest of the year the incoming [contingent] would take six and the outgoing [contingent] would take six. Rabbi Yehudah says that the incoming [contingent] takes seven and the outgoing [contingent] takes five. The incoming [contingent] distributes [their loaves] on the north side [of the Priests' Court] and the outgoing [contingent] on the south side. The "Bilgah" contingent always did so on the south side; its ring was fixed and its window blocked.

1:
We have now reached the last mishnah of this chapter which is also the last mishnah of the tractate. The previous mishnah concluded with the statement that

When YomTov is adjacent to Shabbat, be it before or after, all the contingents were equal in the distribution of the Shewbread.

Our present mishnah continues this topic.

2:
The Shewbread was distributed among the officiating priests every Shabbat, during the afternoon. (Each contingent finished its tour of duty after offering the sacrifices on Shabbat morning; the new, incoming, contingent began its tour of duty by offering the sacrifice on Shabbat at Minchah. The outgoing contingent received six of the twelve loaves of the shewbread while the incoming contingent received the remaining six.) If a festival ended, say, on a Thursday there was no real reason why those priests who were not part of the current contingent should not leave for home on Friday. However, they might decide to stay on for the weekend and leave for home on Sunday. The same applies to the beginning of a festival. If a festival began, say, on a Monday there was no real reason why those priests who were not part of the current contingent should not arrive on Sunday. However, they might decide to make it a long weekend and to arrive already on Friday. In all such circumstances, says our mishnah, the contingent on duty receives ten of the loaves and the others only two loaves. (The dissenting view of Rabbi Yehudah is not halakhah.)

3:
The Shewbread had to be eaten by the priests within the sacred precincts of the Priests' Court in the Bet Mikdash, where the main altar was. The incoming contingent would gather on the north side of the Court to eat their share of the Shewbread while the outgoing contingent would gather on the south side of the court. The sole exception to this arrangement was regarding the "Bilgah" contingent.

4:
Each of the twenty-four contingents had a name, usually derived from an eponymous ancestor. There were several arrangements that were altered in order to embarrass the "Bilgah" contingent. It is not quite clear why this was the case. In his commentary on our mishnah Rabbi Ovadya of Bertinoro quotes one of the suggested reasons:

One woman who belonged to the Bilgah contingent, named Miriam bat-Bilgah, became an apostate by marrying a non-Jewish sergeant from an invading army. When the soldiers entered the sanctuary she slapped the altar with her sandal, shouting [at the altar] "Wolf, wolf, how long will you devour Israel's wealth but not stand by us when we are down?" When the sages heard of this episode they fixed the ring and blocked the window of the whole contingent.

The ring referred to here was one of a set of twenty-four rings set into the floor of the Priests' Court. Each ring had an opening through which the neck of an animal to be slaughtered was thrust to facilitate the slaughter. The ring of the Bilgah contingent was somehow rendered immovable. The window referred to here was a small window through which the priests would deposit their knives after the slaughter. The "Bilgah" window was blocked. The result of these arrangements was embarrassment for the whole contingent that had to ask favours from the other contingents.

5:
This concludes our study of tractate Sukkah.

Having, at long last, completed our study of this tractate I am going to take a break before we start the next tractate. As I explained in the previous shiur I am going through a bout of ill health and I would prefer to wait until all these tests and treatments are behind me before embarking upon the study of a new tractate. Thank you for your patience and understanding. When the time comes I shall send out an email. I take this opportunity of wishing everybody a very happy Passover.

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